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Michael Mundia
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square
Nairobi
30th May 2007
Mugarbage
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe’s presence in
Kenya
for the signing of the a customs union for the Common
Market for East and Central Africa (COMESA), in the
week of 20th May 2007, was extremely unfortunate,
undesirable, insensitive and uncalled for. All COMESA
member states and Africa at large, should bow their
heads down in extreme shame for directing such an
atrocious and extremely inhumane insult at the people
of
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans are being made to face extremely
horrifying and traumatic conditions, by a sadistic
despot who takes pride in possessing seven degrees.
Not even
Uganda’s
Idi Amin visited such terror on his
people, despite not having even one degree. It is
difficult to see how current and future generations of
Zimbabweans will ever forgive Kenyans and Africans in
general, for warmly accommodating the nefarious
actions and deeds of an extremely malicious and brutal
dictator.
Delegates representing COMESA member states warmly
applauded President Mugabe when he asked if the
United
Kingdom had ever been known to grow tea. Instead of
this extremely juvenile, extremely unfortunate and
extremely immature action, the COMESA delegates should
have answered Mugabe by asking him whether he knew of
any country in the world other than
Zimbabwe, where
inflation rates currently stood at 3,700%.
A significant number of Kenyans, both at home and in
the Diaspora, have written diverse letters in support
of Mugabe. This is as unfortunate as the warm applause
that Mugabe received from the COMESA delegates.
Applauding and supporting Mugabe equates to applauding
and supporting overnight price hikes of a two
kilogramme packet of maize meal from 50
Kenya
shillings (approx. US $ 0.7), to 1,850
Kenya shillings
(approx. US $ 26), a loaf of bread from 27
Kenya
shillings to 999
Kenya Shillings, and average one way
commuter fares in the city of Nairobi from 40
Kenya
shillings to 1,480
Kenya shillings. Applauding and
supporting Mugabe also means applauding and supporting
overnight price hikes of a local text message from 5
Kenya shillings to 185
Kenya shillings, an overseas
text message from 10
Kenya shillings to 370
Kenya
shillings and an extreme devaluation of the exchange
rate so that for instance, the Kenya shilling moves
from the current average exchange rate of 70
Kenya
shillings exchanging for 1 US dollar, to 40,000
Kenya
shillings exchanging for 1 US dollar. These are the
conditions that
Robert Mugabe is presently subjecting
his people to, and if we have convinced ourselves that
we are facing hardships in
Kenya, then it is clearly
apparent that we continue to deceive ourselves in one
of the biggest ways in history. How can we even stand
the sight of
Robert Mugabe, let alone applaud him and
send letters in his support? We might as well invite
the de facto heads of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK),
neo-NAZIs, “Intarahamwe” and “Banyamulenge” to
Kenya,
accord them first class treatment and accommodation at
Hotel Intercontinental
Nairobi, or the Grand Regency
Hotel in Nairobi, and cheer them wildly and
passionately for telling us that the Sun rises in the
East, and sets in the West. Why did we allow ourselves
to be insulted and demeaned in this way? Why are
Zimbabweans being made to face these conditions?
Many Kenyans feel that the worst that this country has
ever faced is British colonial rule and the three
successive independent Governments of President
Kenyatta, President Moi and President Kibaki. Whether
this is true or not, we have never experienced
anything remotely close to what Zimbabweans are being
made to face under President Mugabe’s atrocious rule.
Even during the
State of Emergency declared on 20th
October 1952, no African, including the Kikuyu from
whom the bulk of the
Mau Mau fighters were drawn, was
subjected to the extreme forms of mistreatment that
Zimbabweans are presently being subjected to. The
painful irony is that the
State of Emergency was
declared by and presided over by Governor (Sir) Evelyn
Baring, a Briton, while
Robert Mugabe is a fellow
African, if this means anything anymore.
Even during the inflationary trends of the 1990s,
President Moi’s Government ensured that the cherished
two kilogramme packet of maize meal remained below 1
US dollar per packet, through heavy Government
subsidies. President Kenyatta’s Government ensured the
same during his reign, and President Kibaki’s
Government continues to ensure the same. Regardless of
whether the brand is or has been “Jimbi”, “Jogoo”,
“Ndovu”, “Pembe”, “Halisi” or “Shujaa”, nothing can be
said to be more Kenyan than the two kilogramme packet
of maize meal. No Kenyan household, including the
prosperous ones, can be said to be complete without a
two kilogramme packet of maize meal, in the cooking
area. It is to
Kenya, what sushi is to
Japan, and what
curry is to
India. Many food items such as sugar,
margarine, milk and even bread, have been lacking in
many Kenyan households for many years now, but rarely,
the two kilogramme packet of maize meal. State
Departments, Non Governmental Organisations,
Corporations and Social Organisations, display it
prominently when making donations and several Kenyans
overseas even send fellow Kenyans coming home on
holiday or business, for it. To wake up one morning
and discover that a two kilogramme packet of say
“Jogoo”, “Ndovu”, “Pembe”, “Halisi” or “Shujaa”,
was
retailing for 1,850
Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 26),
would brutally devastate all Kenyans, including those
in the Diaspora. It would herald the end of a nation
as we have always known it. This is what is happening
in
Zimbabwe, as many Kenyans and Africans applaud and
support the evil actions of one Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, must greatly be
commended for very sensibly invoking state authority
and banning a tour by the Australian national cricket
team to
Zimbabwe. This is happening when a
Kenya
select cricket side has just returned from a tour of
Zimbabwe. How can we be condemning the actions of
Kenyan militia such as “Mungiki”, “Kisungusungu”,
“Chinkororo”, “Taliban”
and “Baghdad Boys”, as we
contribute to the purchase of a two kilogramme packet
of maize meal at 1,850
Kenya shillings per packet
(approx. US $ 26), by our fellow Africans in
Zimbabwe?
The Kenyan Parliamentary Departmental Committee on
Defence and Foreign Relations is required to
immediately summon the Commissioner of Sports, to
enable him give a briefing on the lavish financial
endowments of Cricket
Kenya, among several other very
troubling matters related to the tour. It must also be
noted that cricket is a middle class sport, and that
the tour lasted one month. Being a middle class sport,
the entire tour party must have among other things,
been feeding on food items such as milkshakes, beef
burgers and French fries, a single serving of which
presently retails for about 250 Kenyan shillings and
which must currently be retailing for about 9,250
Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 132), in
Zimbabwe. There
have been two prominent deaths in the world of cricket
in the last two months, while Cricket
Kenya has just
contributed to the death of an entire nation.
The Kenyan Parliamentary Departmental Committee on
Energy, Communications and Public Works, also needs to
immediately summon the Director of Information, to
enable him give a brief on media policies and ethics
in
Kenya, and in particular, advise on the speedy
enactment of the Media Bill into law, given the
deplorable media standards in
Kenya. The Director of
Information will also be required to explain why local
media houses, including the Nation Media Group and the
Standard Group, supported the Kenyan cricket tour to
Zimbabwe by giving it prominence in their coverage, in
complete disregard of extremely appalling and
difficult conditions currently being faced by
Zimbabweans. The Nation Media Group and the Standard
Group, were very prominent in attacking the
UK
Government of
Margaret Thatcher for initialling
refusing to enforce sanctions on the Apartheid regime
of P.W. Botha. We cannot continue to blame “the White
man” for all of Africa’s problems when the likes of
John Howard take decisive action, as the rest of us
sit back and support Mugabe’s regime, as we munch on
milkshakes, beef burgers and fries.
The
Zimbabwe High Commissioner in
Kenya and all other
Mission staff, also require to be expelled with
immediate effect, as we temporarily shut down their
Mission, and indefinitely cut ties with
Zimbabwe. We
must lead by example. It is obscene that we continue
to allow staff of the Zimbabwe High Commission to
enjoy high standards of living in
Kenya and ride
around in luxury vehicles, made possible by the wages
of traumatised Zimbabweans, who among other things,
purchase a two kilogramme packet of maize meal for
1,850
Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 26). What purpose
does the Zimbabwe High Commission currently serve in
Kenya anyway? Is it here to give us expert advise on
how to dramatically shift our exchange rates from it’s
current levels to levels where say, 40,000
Kenya
shillings exchange for 1 US dollar? Staff of the Kenya
High Commission in
Zimbabwe must also be recalled
immediately, and the Mission should be closed in
Zimbabwe, until further notice. It is unacceptable for
Kenyans to continue fueling a hitherto unforeseen
global crisis by amongst other things, munching on
servings of milkshakes, beef burgers and fries that
cost 9,250
Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 132). Former
US President Bill Clinton, was once heavily criticised
for getting a US $ 200 haircut abroad the official US
Presidential jet, Air Force One.
The African Union (AU), in conjunction with the
United
Nations (UN), must also hold emergency sessions, and
explore all possible measures and resolutions that can
be invoked, to ensure a hasty end to
Robert Mugabe’s
tyrannical rule in
Zimbabwe. The problem clearly is
Mugabe, and a small band of equally insensitive
individuals surrounding him. Economic options, and
possibly a military one must be explored as a matter
of urgency. If need be, a combined military contingent
should go in and arrest Mugabe, in similar manner to
what happened to Gen. Manuel Noriega in
Panama in
1989, during the administration of the senior
George
Bush in America. Were it not for combined and
concerted outside pressure that was brought to bear on
the Apartheid regime in
South Africa, chances are that
Nelson Mandela would still be in jail today. We must
not this for granted.
With regard to
Nelson Mandela and the freedom movement
in
South Africa, one cannot forget how Mandela defied
western pressure not to visit
Muammar Gaddafi’s
Libya.
It was extremely difficult for Mandela to forget the
support that Gaddafi gave to the
African National
Congress (ANC), during it’s darkest and most trying
moments in history. Gaddafi gave the ANC much needed
support at a time when the rest of the world had
turned it’s back on it. When former Israeli Premier
Yitzhak Rabin made a brief stopover in
Kenya in 1991,
he gave an emotional vote of thanks to the people of
Kenya for allowing the Israeli rescue mission to
refuel and get other supplies at the then Nairobi
airport, following the remarkable Israeli hostage
rescue mission at Entebbe airport in 1976. Rabin said
that
Israel would never forget. It is indeed difficult
to see how
Israel would have deployed specialised
military contingents to
Kenya after the August 7th
1998 bomb blast, and after the collapse of the
building on
Nairobi’s Ronald Ngala street in early
2006, were it not for 1976. Israelis helped save our
lives.
The flip side is also true, and it will it will be
several years before Zimbabweans are able to forgive
us for our complacency in the current crisis.
Following the February 1990 murder of former Kenyan
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Robert Ouko, then
University of Nairobi students continuously shouted
“Where were you?!” at contingents of
Kenya Police
Officers. Then Police Commissioner Philip Kilonzo, was
not spared either. This is exactly what several
generations of Zimbabweans will ask Kenyans and other
Africans……. “Where were you?!”
Michael Mundia Kamau
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